The U.S. government has advice for journalists and activists: Watch out for spyware. The National Counterintelligence and Security Center doesn’t mention NSO, the Israeli company whose Pegasus spyware has been implicated in policies of surveillance and repression around the world. But the warning described Pegasus’ powers exactly.
Companies and individuals have been selling commercial surveillance tools to governments and other entities that have used them for malicious purposes. Journalists, dissidents, and other persons around the world have been targeted and tracked using these tools, which allow malign actors to infect mobile and internet-connected devices with malware over both WiFi and cellular data connections. In some cases, malign actors can infect a targeted device with no action from the device owner.
Source: Biden Administration Warns Against Spyware Targeting Dissidents – The New York Times
